"Unfortunately, I'm not ruling out that possibility. It definitely wouldn't be good if that happened and international troops would have to ensure peace and security. That's why KFOR reinforced its troops in Kosovo and Metohija," Blic daily of Monday quoted him as saying when asked if he expected unrest in Kosovo at the time of the Serbian elections.
Serbia will hold parliamentary and regional elections on May 6. The parliament speaker called local elections for the same day, including in Kosovo. Kosovo's parliament then adopted a resolution banning the holding of Serbian parliamentary and local elections on Kosovo's territory, with Speaker Jakup Krasniqi saying Serbian elections on Kosovo's territory would be prevented by force if necessary.
Serbian Minister for Kosovo Goran Bogdanovic said earlier this month that Serbia would not hold local elections in Kosovo, adding that the UN Mission to Kosovo, which has the authority to organise them, had given a negative response to the idea.
Bogdanovic told Tanjug news agency Serbia in no way wanted to breach UN Security Council Resolution 1244 and bring in danger the Serbs living south of Ibar River in Kosovo.
The river divides the town of Kosovska Mitrovica into the Serb-populated north and the Albanian-populated south, and is considered the line symbolically dividing north Kosovo, which is mostly populated by Serbs, and the rest of the country, where the majority population is Albanian.
Bogdanovic also criticised announcements that Serbian local elections would be held in two of four Serb-populated municipalities in north Kosovo and called for scrapping this idea, saying nobody had the right to breach Resolution 1244.
As for Serbia's presidential and parliamentary elections, they will be held in Kosovo in cooperation with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, otherwise the safety of people involved in the election process cannot be guaranteed, Belgrade's media reported today.
Members of the Serbian Election Commission will come to Raska, south Serbia, from where the election material will be sent to Kosovo. After the vote, the ballots will be returned to Raska for counting. OSCE will secure the transfer of the election material to Kosovo and of the ballots to Serbia.
At the suggestion of the Serbian Ministry for Kosovo, the Serbian Election Commission will choose the polling stations in Kosovo taking into account the security circumstances there.
The Pristina-based daily Zeri said today that holding Serbian elections in Kosovo could undermine the "security balance" there because Kosovo institutions were willing to intervene if OSCE "betrays" Pristina and enables the vote.
Zeri said Pristina was worried that Kosovo Serbs could use OSCE's logistical support to hold local elections along with the presidential and parliamentary votes, adding that if that happened, the Kosovo government was willing to resort to force to prevent all Serbian elections from being held throughout Kosovo.